A Hero's Mantra
by Light of the Dawn
Summary: Cody is just your run of the mill guy with superpowers who works with three people he doesn't even like as they fight evil. But after a day packed with heroic deeds, Cody receives a show of appreciation that really shocks him. Codette. Cody/Bridgette and Geoff/Duncan.


**As requested by JapanRules555. Sorry it took so long, but I wanted to get it just right. I hope you enjoy this story!**

**I don't own Total Drama.**

* * *

"Not again." Cody said with an annoyed frown, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his temples. "This whole hostage situation routine is getting old."

"You're telling me." A punk with a green mohawk and a face full of piercings said, his feet resting on the table as he leaned his chair back on only two legs. "We never catch a break around here. Didn't we just do this exact thing yesterday?"

Cody groaned, but grabbed his rubber-soled boots and pulled them back on. He'd spent the entire morning dealing with a disaster in the city, and after spending five straight hours on the site of a train crash – with no casualties, thanks to him - he'd been hoping for some peace and quiet. His feet were sore and excessive use of his powers always gave him a migraine. He was ready for a break, no thanks to the rest of the team.

"Yep, and now we have to do it again." Snapped a teal-and-black haired maiden in a charcoal coloured jumpsuit as she walked into the room, taking a seat to pull on her black platform boots.

"Why is it that we always have to rescue the chicks." The punk said, rolling his eyes with an almost amused smirk.

"I'll tell _Geoff__y_ you're sick of saving damsels,_Dunky_." A second female voice said in an almost smug tone as a brunette walked into the room. "I'm sure he'll forgive you when we're done rescuing him for you."

The punk sat bolt upright, the smirk on his face vanishing in an instant. "He's got Geoff? Why didn't you dorks say so sooner?!"

"How _very_ heroic of you." The brunette female said, rolling her wide brown eyes. "Only interested in helping others if someone you care about is at stake."

"Shut it, Princess." Duncan snapped, vanishing in the other room for a moment to grab his costume.

"Sometimes I wonder why we still allow him to stay here." Courtney said, turning to her teal-and-black haired best friend. "I mean, come on! He's a juvenile delinquent-turned-super hero. Has he actually done anything to earn a place with us? Don't you agree, Gwen?"

But Cody answered for the other young woman. "He has superpowers and if he wants to align with us, that's one less potential villain to distract us from our battles with _The Host_."

"Oh I suppose." Courtney said, rolling her eyes. With an exaggerated sigh, she spoke again. "Speaking of our favourite nemesis, we need to do something about his recent obsession with kidnapping civilians to 'use against us'."

"Come on then." Gwen said in her usual monotone voice. "Better go save Duncan's boyfriend."

"Geoff is _not_ my boyfriend!" Duncan snapped as he appeared again, dressed in his black and green jumpsuit. "He's just my best . . . room . . . mate."

"Whatever you say, _Dunky_." Courtney said smugly, ruffling Duncan's mohawk as though he was a child.

"Guys, can we focus please? We have a job to do." Cody said with a sigh of annoyance. He just wanted to get this over and done with. The sooner they rescued these civilians, the sooner he would be able to go home and just sleep. He was already exhausted, and the superhero squad he worked with could be almost as mentally draining as a five hour long rescue mission.

* * *

"Alright, Cody, you rescue the hostages. We'll handle the moron and his minions." Courtney said as the four young adults prepared to move in on _The Host_'s headquarters, which happened to be an abandoned film studio.

With a nod, the four split up, with Duncan and the girls running off to find the perpetrator of the crime, while Cody went into stealth mode. Taking a deep breath, he pressed his body against the wall and made his way to the back door of the studio, keeping to the shadows and doing his best to stay clear of the hundreds of hidden cameras posted throughout the building.

It only took him twenty minutes to navigate his way through the building to find where something important was hidden. Several of _The Host_'s brainwashed henchmen or _interns_, as he so often called them, were standing around on a set for a summer camp. The abundant stage lighting made it impossible for Cody to sneak closer without being noticed.

With a sigh, Cody rubbed his hands together and stepped in plan sight.

"Don't you guys ever learn?" Cody asked as The Host's interns swarmed him. He pressed his flat palm against the first minion that was near him, but his hand only sparked and the minion kept coming.

"Nice try!" The intern hissed, diving at Cody and tackling him to the ground.

The breath was knocked out of Cody as his body hit the concrete floor and several interns started to attack him. Writhing under their combined weight was tiring, and it wasn't long before Cody was out of breath.

He was starting to get quite dizzy from struggling to breathe under tje interns' combined weight when he managed to free one arm. Already pulsing with an electric charge, Cody managed to hit one of the interns in the face, right on their unprotected cheek, but instead of sending the intern reeling backwards, the henchman passed out and increased the amount of pressure weighing down on Cody. His head was beginning to pound, and he could feel his blood pulsing in his ears.

He was losing consciousness.

* * *

A surge of heat directly above him dragged him back to life and he opened his eyes to find that the interns were no longer piled on top of him. The smell of burning hung in the air, and just as Cody went to sit up, another fireball sailed above him, evoking screams of pain, probably from interns.

"Jesus. Can't we trust you to do anything right, Captain Shocktard?" Duncan sneered as he stepped up to the shorter brunette male. He didn't offer one of his singed hands to the geek to help him up, and Cody was fine with that. Neither one wanted to be on the receiving end of the other's power.

"Their jumpsuits are like rubber-lined or something. My powers didn't work." Cody snapped, aggravated as he got to his feet beside the punk. "Seeing as I'm so incompetent at fighting, why don't you take care of these morons and I'll go save the hostages?"

"Think you can actually manage to do that? Or will I need to come and help poor, weak Coco fight evil?"

"Just keep them busy." Cody retorted, sprinting towards the part of the set where The Host almost always held his prisoners.

Ducking behind a lone intern guarding the hostages, Cody rubbed his hands together before surprising the intern with a slap in the face from behind, electrocuting him. The intern dropped to the floor, unconscious, as Cody walked into the room where he expected the hostages to be.

Rolling his eyes at the predictability of The Host's rinse and repeat formula for his 'evil' plans, Cody rubbed his hands together to gather a charge, before putting both hands against the control panel, frying the circuit-boards and releasing all fourteen prisoners.

"My wrists hurt so much from those metal restraints." One of the freed hostages commented, rubbing their reddened wrists with a grimace.

"You need any help in there?" Duncan's insincere tone preceded his entrance into the hostage-holding set.

"No, I got it thanks." Cody said drily, casting a dirty look at the green-haired punk.

"Duncan!" a blonde haired male cried out, sprinting across the room and throwing his arms around Duncan's neck.

"Geoff! Are you alright?" Duncan asked in a concerned tone, pulling back to inspect his blonde friend for a moment before realizing that they weren't alone. His eyes widened for a moment, before he let go of Geoff as though he'd been burned, and crossed his arms in the most aloof, hetereosexual manner he could muster. "Because, you know, we should probably get you to the ER or something if you're hurt."

"Nahh, I'm fine." Geoff said, the grin returning to his face. Regardless of whether or not Duncan would ever admit to their being romantically involved, Geoff had to be one of the happiest people that Cody had ever met in his life. Cody thought he made Duncan's attitude a lot better when he was around.

"Alright, come on then losers." Duncan said, leading the entire group of hostages out of the holding cell area.

Cody turned to follow him, but a voice from behind him caught his attention. "Do you have a special superhero name?"

Cody turned to see a pretty blonde in a blue hoodie. He gave her a half-smile and shook his head. "Nahh, we're not conceited enough for that yet."

The girl laughed. She had a pretty laugh, Cody thought. "Do you have a regular name then? This is the second time you've saved me today, so I'd love to know what I can call you."

"The name's Cody." The brunette said with a chuckle.

"Bridgette."

"That's a pretty name."

"Thank you." The blonde smiled at the compliment before sobering slightly. "I never did get a chance to properly thank you for saving me – and everyone else on that train - this morning."

"No need to thank me. All in a day's work and all that jazz about a hero's mantra." Cody said with a shrug, turning to lead her out of the hostage holding area, only to find her falling into step beside him.

"But I'd like to." Bridgette insisted.

Cody gave a small smile as they spoke. As humble as he strove to be, it felt good to be appreciated once in awhile. "Alright, what did you have in mind?"

"Why don't you let me take you on a date on Friday night to make it up to you?" She asked, before frowning. "Unless you already have someone I mean, which is totally cool and everything, I was just wondering-"

"Nahh, I'm single. To be honest, girls don't usually go for these." Cody said, holding up his electrified hands. "_Shocking_, huh?"

"So is that a yes or a no to the date?"

"Alright, sure. Why not?" Cody said with a smile as they pushed through the doors that lead from the studio onto the street. "Shall I pick you up around, say, six o'clock?"

"I look forward to it." Bridgette said, leaning in and brushing her soft lips against his cheek. For a split second, the air seemed to gain an electric charge before a nearby street lamp exploded.

"Jesus Christ Cody! What the hell was that?!" Courtney cried out in alarm, glaring at the brunette male, but he hadn't even heard her.

"See you then." Cody said softly as Bridgette began to make her way down the street in the opposite direction.

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**Constructive critique appreciated! Please review!**


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